The purpose of this project is to study the women involved in the SOS Children’s Villages; the influence of the association on their views on life, as seen from a human-rights and a religious perspective. Questions such as why they chose to work with the association and what it gives them to do so are treated in this study. My goal has been to study and present different aspects of something so important, but yet so unfamiliar. The method used in this project is minor field studies, which means visiting the villages, living with the families and observing their daily lives. The means of acquiring the information necessary for this study is by qualitative interviews with the mothers. A theoretical framework has been used as a complement to the study, and it is also used to bring greater understanding to the SOS mothers and how they have shaped their lives. My ambition with this essay is to bring out their individual experiences on how they view their own lives at present and what meaning life has given them. I have used seven of the 14 interviews conducted. The outcome shows that several factors play important roles as to why the mothers decided to work with the association. Such factors were socioeconomic and sociopsyhologic factors. Other conclusions that were drawn after this field trip were that the women are very vulnerable to the social situation in Lebanon. They need someone to support them since the men are the primary providers. If the women do not find someone to marry they need to find another source for provision and the SOS children’s Association is one way to go. The sense of Coherence that these women had was indeed strong, they felt meaningfulness in what they did, they had comprehended the situations at hand and could manage the situations as predictable, and they have the confidence to know that everything will work out in the best way possible. / Uppsatsen har givits ut som bok 2009 med titeln: "Lebanese SOS Children's Villages: Stories of the village mothers" av VDM Verlag, Saarbrücken.

Εν μέσω οικονομικής και πνευματικής κρίσης, οι εκπαιδευτικοί της πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης χρειάζεται να προβούν σε δράσεις γνωριμίας και ενημέρωσης για τα δικαιώματα συμμετοχής του παιδιού ώστε οι μαθητές τους να ασκήσουν τα συγκεκριμένα δικαιώματα σε μεγάλο βαθμό όχι μόνο στο σχολείο αλλά και στην καθημερινότητά τους. Για αυτό το λόγο, διεξαγάγαμε μια εμπειρική έρευνα σε 101 δασκάλους δημοτικής εκπαίδευσης και νηπιαγωγούς γενικής αγωγής στις περιοχές του Αιγίου και της Πάτρας. Ο Σκοπός της έρευνας είναι να διερευνήσει τις στάσεις των νηπιαγωγών και των δασκάλων δημοτικής εκπαίδευσης γενικής αγωγής αναφορικά με τα δικαιώματα συμμετοχής των μαθητών τους. Τα ερευνητικά ερωτήματα σχετίζονται με (α) τη διερεύνηση των απόψεων και των πρακτικών των ερωτηθέντων(β) με τη διαφοροποίηση των απόψεων και των πρακτικών μεταξύ των νηπιαγωγών και των δασκάλων δημοτικής εκπαίδευσης γενικής αγωγής αναφορικά με τα δικαιώματα συμμετοχής των μαθητών τους. / In the middle of economic and spiritual crisis, primary school and kindergarten teachers should be informed and make children aware regarding their participation rights so as students vindicate their political rights to a high degree both in school and their everyday lives. Thus, we conducted an empirical research towards 101 primary school and kindergarten teachers in the regions of Aigio and Patras, located in Prefecture of Achaia, Greece.The goal of this research is to probe kindergarten and primary school teachers' attitudes regarding students' participation rights. The research inquires are related to (a) the investigation of the respondents' opinions and practices (b) the differentiation of kindergarten and primary school opinions and practices in terms of their students' participation rights.

The aim with this study is to study how young children’s influence expresses itself in some educators’ stories about their work with children. The study also looks at the relations between pedagogues’ approaches to children and aims at identifying the educator’s perspectives of children. To get to know more about this I have interviewed five pedagogues who work with children in the ages of 3-6 years in different fields at a preschool area in India.The result shows that childrens’ influence and participation for the educators involves children selecting activities. A consequence of this is that the teacher is the one who decides when and what kind of influence the child can practice. Furthermore the teachers express different views on the child which sometimes are contradictory but still coexist. A conclusion of the study is that the images of children that the pedagogues are expressing have to be looked upon in relation to the context of the activity. The context of the activity becomes therefore also central for how the children’s influence expresses itself. / Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka hur barns inflytande kommer till uttryck i några pedagogers berättelser om sitt arbete med barn. Studien syftar även till att undersöka pedagogernas förhållningssätt i relation till olika bilder av barn. För att närma mig studiens intentioner har jag intervjuat fem pedagoger som arbetar med barn i åldrarna 3-6 år och inom olika professioner på ett skolområde i Indien. Resultatet visar att barns inflytande enligt pedagogerna involverar barns möjligheter att välja aktiviteter. Resultatet visar även att lärarna är de som avgör när och vilket slags inflytande barnen har möjlighet att utöva. Vidare visar resultatet att lärarna ger uttryck för varierade bilder av barn som ibland kan verka motstridiga men samtidigt samexisterar. Studiens slutsatser visar att de bilder av barn som pedagogerna bär med sig måste ses i relation till den kontext verksamheten utformas i. Verksamhetens kontext blir på så sätt även avgörande för hur barnens inflytande kommer till uttryck.

Alla barn har enligt barnkonventionen rätten att tillåtas att fritt uttrycka sina åsikter. Därtill åligger det samhället ett ansvar att ta tillvara på de ungas engagemang och lyssna till deras synpunkter, idéer och förslag. Emellertid är det svårt att förverkliga ungas delaktighet i praktiken, då somliga ser barn som objekt i behov av skydd, ser andra barn som självständiga aktörer med rättigheter. Således utelämnas barn och ungdomar till enskilda vuxnas bemötande, vilket är otillräckligt för att fullt ut lyckas ta in barns åsikter och säkerställa deras rätt till deltagande. Den här undersökningen tog sin utgång ifrån tidigare forskning vilken har belyst ett behov av studier på ungdomars egna reflektioner över delaktighet i beslut som rör dem. Studien har lyft hur ungdomars perspektiv på delaktighet i samhället ser ut genom fyra frågeställningar. Den första handlar om ungdomars inställning till delaktighet, den andra om vilka samhällsintressen de vill påverka och den tredje handlar om vilka förutsättningar för delaktighet de önskar. Den fjärde frågeställningen besvaras utifrån resultatet från den första och tredje frågeställningen och handlar om i vilken utsträckning de vill vara med och påverka. En fallstudie i Jönköping har genomförts där åtta respondenter deltagit i individuella kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet bygger på en fenomenografisk analys av sammanställt datamaterial och analys av resultatet i jämförelse med Harts delaktighetstrappa. Resultatet visar bland annat att: ungdomarna upplevt att de blivit nedvärderade av vuxna, det mest förekommande intresseområdet för påverkan var skolan, de tycker delaktighet är viktigt och något som är allas rättighet och att de önskar att delaktigheten ska vara lättillgänglig och smidig att genomföra. I syfte att även sammanfatta ungdomars perspektiv på delaktighet genomfördes en analys i jämförelse med Harts delaktighetstrappa. Resultatet kunde således nå ett analytiskt djup och nå teorigenerering, då ungdomarna kategoriserades som tre olika idealtyper: de förnöjsamma, reformisterna och de revolutionära. Då syftet är att ge djupare förståelse för ungdomars livsvärld angående delaktighet, bör inte de analytiska konstruktionerna ses som renodlade och representativa för alla ungdomar. Istället bör resultatet främja förståelse för den dynamik som återfinns bland gruppen ungdomar. / According to the convention on the Rights of the Child, every child has the right to freely express his or her opinion. The society has a responsibility to include young people’s participation, hence listen to their opinions and ideas. Nevertheless, it is difficult to implement young people’s participation in practice as children are sometimes viewed as objects in need of protection and viewed by others as independent actors. Adults behavior affects the opportunities to participate and is therefore important to acknowledge. This essay is grounded in previous studies which have observed a need for further research on young people’s own perspective on participation. Consequently, the purpose was to examine youth’s perspective on partic-ipation in matters that concern them, just like article 12 claims. Four research questions have been answered. The first one concerns the youths point of views of participation, the second one their interest in matters revolving around youths in society and the third one concerns what prerequisites the youth’s need to be able and willing to participate. The fourth research question was to what extent young people want to influence issues that concern them. It was answered based on the results of the first and the third questions and is presented in the analysis. The questions have been studied within the case of Jönköping. Data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews with eight participants. With a phenomenographic method the collected data was analyzed. In addition, the data was linked to levels of children’s participation though Hart’s Ladder of Participation which gave the results an order of precedence along with analytical depth and developed a theory. In summary, the findings conclude: the adolescents had experienced that adults often show a degrading attitude towards youth; there is a great interest in questions involving their schools; partic-ipation is important to youth and is every individual’s right; and finally, societal participation needs to be further developed to become known and accessible for youth. It was further categorized into three different ideal types: the indifferent, the reformers and the revolutionary. The analytical constructions should not be viewed as complete and representative for all youths. Rather the result of this study should facilitate an understanding of the many dynamics of adolescents’ participation in society.

With children on the move at the forefront of policy-making and research in Europe in recent years, it has been argued that children’s rights are increasingly encroached upon through tighter immigration controls and inconsistent policy interventions. The European Network of Ombudspersons for Children (ENOC) is an institution that aims to address children’s rights violations at a regional level throughout Europe, meaning that it should in its promotion of core children’s rights ensure a balance is reached between provision, participation and protection in addressing policy problems relating to children on the move. Through a discourse analysis this thesis critically examines how problems are represented in ENOCs position statements, and how ENOC represent and construct children and childhood in relation to children on the move. Our analysis indicated that the statements were predominantly based within a rights-based approach, especially where longer-term strategies were promoted. This reveals that ENOCs emphasis on the need for children’s rights to take precedence over state sovereignty, that children’s rights to participation and non- discrimination is accentuated over child protection perspectives, and that the recognition of the heterogeneity of the experiences of children on the move is endorsed. However, whilst ENOC seeks to move away from stereotypical notions of the migrant child, by promoting their agency and heterogeneity, children on the move are also represented in isolation in the position papers. Disassociated from family and adult migrants, children on the move are constructed as victims, vulnerable, dependent and in need of special care and assistance. In this light, their construction conveys a notion of complexity, however, it is also evident that their vulnerability is fostered in order to receive the protection and support they are entitled to, whether at a regional, European or international level.

Afrikaans text / Suid-Afrika het ‘n ver pad gekom sedert die 16de eeu in die erkenning en ontwikkeling van kinderregte. Kinderregte word vandag ten volle erken in die Grondwet, wat die hoogste gesag in die land is. Hierdie studie het ten doel om die beskerming van kinderregte in die Suid-Afrikaanse Reg te ondersoek, met verwysing na die rol wat internasionale reg, soos die United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (“die Konvensie”) en die African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 1990 (“Afrika Handves”) in die ontwikkeling van kinderregte gespeel het. Spesifieke voorskrifte ingevolge waarvan die regte van kinders beskerm word is ondersoek,insluitend artikel 28 van die Grondwet en sekere bepalings van die Kinderwet. Weens die beperkte omvang van hierdie verhandeling, is sekere afgebakende voorbeelde uit die Kinderwet ondersoek met spesifieke verwysing na kinders se regte en tradisionele waardes soos manlike besnydenis, vroulike besnydenis en maagdelikheidstoetse. Daar is gekyk of die praktiese probleme op regeringsvlak, byvoorbeeld die voorsiening en befondsing van maatskaplike dienste, die implementering van die bepalings van die Kinderwet vertraag. Skrywer kom tot die slotsom dat die bepalings van die Kinderwet alleenlik nie voldoende is om effektiewe beskerming aan sekere groepe kinders te verleen nie en hierdie probleme lei daartoe dat kinderregte nie behoorlik gerealiseer en geïmplementeer word nie, en dat daar nie ‘n behoorlike balans tussen die regte en verantwoordelikhede van die kind, die ouers en die staat bereik word nie. Moontlike oplossings vir die probleem en tekortkominge in die uitvoering van die Kinderwet word voorgestel in die slot hoofstuk. / South Africa has come a long way since the 16th century in the recognition and development of children's rights. Children's rights are now fully recognized in the Constitution, the supreme authority in the country. This study aims to investigate the protection of children's rights in South African law, with reference to the role of international law, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the rights and Welfare of the child 1990, in the development of children's rights. Specific provisions under which the rights of children protected is examined, including Section 28 of the Constitution and certain provisions of the Children’s Act. Due to the limited scope of this paper, some designated examples from the Children’s Act are examined with particular reference to children's rights and traditional values such as male circumcision, female circumcision and virginity testing. It is looked at if whether the practical problems experienced on government level, the provision and funding of social services delay the implementation of the provisions of the Children's Act .Author comes to the conclusion that the provisions of the Children alone is not sufficient to ensure effective protection of the rights of certain groups of children and that these problems led to children's rights not properly realized and implemented, and that a proper balance between the rights and responsibilities of the child, the parents and the state is not reached. In the concluding chapter possible solutions to the problems and shortcomings in the implementation of the Children’s Act is suggested. / Jurisprudence / LLM

Esta investigação se inscreve no campo da educação, mais especificadamente nos processos educativos não formais. Trata das trajetórias de vida de crianças e adolescentes que passaram por medida de proteção de acolhimento institucional, constituindo, dessa forma, o objeto de investigação desse estudo. Os procedimentos administrativos pertencentes ao Ministério Público – 4ª Promotoria de Justiça Especializada da Infância e Juventude da Cidade de Caxias do Sul no período compreendido entre os anos 1990 a 2011, bem como as narrativas produzidas em entrevistas semiestruturadas com quatro egressos dos serviços de acolhimento do município, constituem o corpus empírico deste texto, o qual foi construído na perspectiva da análise textual discursiva, metodologia de tratamento dos dados cunhada por Roque Moraes (2011). Os percursos metodológicos passaram também pelos preceitos da história cultural, incluindo a história oral e a análise documental. A pesquisa objetivou entender os motivos e significados que levaram crianças e adolescentes ao afastamento da família, alguns nem sempre como uma medida provisória, como orienta o Estatuto da Criança e dos Adolescentes (ECA). A análise do material construído apontou que dois acolhidos, do sexo masculino, vivenciaram a situação de acolhimento de forma satisfatória, uma vez que apreenderam vivências e experiências que consideram hoje contribuir para suas relações familiares e sociais; em contrapartida, as duas outras entrevistadas narraram um grande ressentimento ao não terem seus sentimentos reconhecidos e respeitados pelos profissionais que exercem as suas atividades laborativas nas instituições, e ainda, salientaram os malefícios da transferência de instituições quando completaram doze anos de idade. Os procedimentos do Ministério Público corroboraram com os dados disponibilizados pelo Conselho Nacional de Justiça, destacando que há na cidade mais sujeitos do sexo masculino em situação de acolhimento do que do sexo feminino. Ainda, apontaram a falta de conhecimento e preparo, por parte do Conselho Tutelar, no momento de afastar uma criança/adolescente de seu núcleo familiar de origem. De forma complementar, realizou-se uma análise das constâncias e (in) constâncias jurídicas na história da infância no Brasil, utilizando como contribuição teórica o entendimento de Norbert Elias (1993, 1994, 2011). Para a efetivação do estudo, procurou-se estabelecer um diálogo com autores que discorrem sobre os temas analisados, tais como: Claudia Fonseca (2000, 2006, 2009, 2012), Irene Rizzini (2000, 2007, 2008), Vicente Faleiros (1995, 2008), Renato Caminha (1999), Maria Luiza Marcílio (2006), entre outros. Com as análises efetivadas, o texto concluiu que o conjunto de leis e diretrizes contribuem para o fortalecimento do trabalho realizado com este público, contudo ainda faltam políticas públicas articuladas, que previnam o rompimento de laços familiares e comunitários das crianças e adolescentes do nosso país. Estima-se que a contribuição da pesquisa está, pois, na articulação entre aspectos de uma história de longa duração – o processo de institucionalização de crianças e adolescentes no Brasil – e uma história do tempo presente – trazendo parte dos territórios íntimos dos sujeitos abrigados e/ou acolhidos, em contextos de alargamento da compreensão da educação para além dos muros da escola, vinculando-a a um processo de socialização. / Submitted by Marcelo Teixeira (mvteixeira@ucs.br) on 2014-05-30T12:21:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Letícia Borges Poletto.pdf: 7558623 bytes, checksum: 7edaa93f39ac68dae62dbd9b760406a3 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-30T12:21:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Letícia Borges Poletto.pdf: 7558623 bytes, checksum: 7edaa93f39ac68dae62dbd9b760406a3 (MD5) / This research is inscribed into the area of education, more specifically into non-formal educative processes. It deals with life stories of children and teenagers who were sheltered by institutions, as a means of protection, and who are the object of research in this study. The empirical corpus of this text is constituted by administrative proceedings belonging to the State Public Prosecution Office-4th Department of Justice Specialized in Children and Young People of Caxias do Sul- in the period of 1990 to 2011, together with narratives produced in semi-structured interviews, involving four former institution sheltered young people of the municipality of Caxias do Sul. This corpus was built following the approach of discursive textual analysis, a methodology of data treatment coined by Roque Moraes (2011). Methodological routes passed through cultural history commandments, including oral history and documental analysis. The research had the aim of understanding causes and meanings that led children and young people to keep distance from their families, many of them without the support of a provisional measure, as the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (ECA) (Children’s Rights Statute) suggests. The analysis of the constructed material indicated that two of the sheltered boys, had a good experience when admitted in the institutions, as they apprehended experiences they consider to contribute, nowadays, in their family and social relationships; but two of the girls reported a great resentment because they did not have their feelings recognized and respected by people who worked in institutions. They also emphasized the bad effect of transfer from one institution to another one when they were twelve years old. The State Public Prosecution Office’s proceedings corroborated the data presented by National Justice Council, noting that there are more boys than girls who are sheltered in institutions. This organ also pointed at the Conselho Tutelar’s (Guardianship Council) lack of knowledge and preparation at the time of taking a child/teenager out of his/her family. As a complementation, it was made an analysis of permanence and nonpermanence of laws in the history of childhood in Brazil, using Norbert Elias (1993, 1994, 2011) theoretical contribution. To make this study effective, a dialogue involving authors who treat the analyzed topics, such as Claudia Fonseca (2000, 2006, 2009, 2012), Irene Rizzini (2000, 2007, 2008), Vicente Faleiros (1995, 2008), Renato Caminha (1999), Maria Luiza Marcílio (2006), among others, was proposed. After the finished analysis, the text concludes that the laws and norms contribute to strengthen work being done with this people, but there are still articulated public policies lacking, to avoid the break-up of family and community ties of Brazilian children and teenagers. It is estimated that the contribution of this research is the articulation between aspects of a long-term history- the process of institutionalization of children and teenagers in Brazil- and a present-time history- bringing a part of the intimate territories of sheltered and/or hosted, in contexts of widening of education comprehension, further from the school’s walls, linking school to a process of socialization.

In November 2016 the Swedish government requested a study where actions were suggested in order to strengthen the children's rights perspective for those children living at refuges. This resulted in the commission of inquiry "A window of opportunity- a strengthen children's rights perspective for children in refuges" (SOU 2017:112). The aim for this paper is to study how this inquiry is constructed and in which way it problematize children's rights and will be guided by three research questions: how is the concept ‘children's rights' problematized in the report SOU 2017:112, how does the problematization of children's rights position children living at the refuges in order to strengthen them as rights holders and what implicit assumptions are made as a way to increase the children's rights perspective for the children living at refuges? To investigate these questions this paper will do a policy analysis based on Carol Bacchi’s (2009) “What’s the Problem Represented to Be?” (WPR) approach. The method is chosen since the WPR-approach is used for the study of policies and especially studies the way a policy constructs a problem. This paper argues that the problematization of children's rights positions the children at the refuges as in need of protection and care and at the same time emphasizes their right to get their voice heard, as they are being active individuals. The urge to strengthen the children is argued to be a way to prevent the children who have experienced violence to become abusive themselves. As such, the conclusion is that a strengthen children's rights perspective for those children living in refuges transmits to them becoming ‘good citizens'.

Esta investigação se inscreve no campo da educação, mais especificadamente nos processos educativos não formais. Trata das trajetórias de vida de crianças e adolescentes que passaram por medida de proteção de acolhimento institucional, constituindo, dessa forma, o objeto de investigação desse estudo. Os procedimentos administrativos pertencentes ao Ministério Público – 4ª Promotoria de Justiça Especializada da Infância e Juventude da Cidade de Caxias do Sul no período compreendido entre os anos 1990 a 2011, bem como as narrativas produzidas em entrevistas semiestruturadas com quatro egressos dos serviços de acolhimento do município, constituem o corpus empírico deste texto, o qual foi construído na perspectiva da análise textual discursiva, metodologia de tratamento dos dados cunhada por Roque Moraes (2011). Os percursos metodológicos passaram também pelos preceitos da história cultural, incluindo a história oral e a análise documental. A pesquisa objetivou entender os motivos e significados que levaram crianças e adolescentes ao afastamento da família, alguns nem sempre como uma medida provisória, como orienta o Estatuto da Criança e dos Adolescentes (ECA). A análise do material construído apontou que dois acolhidos, do sexo masculino, vivenciaram a situação de acolhimento de forma satisfatória, uma vez que apreenderam vivências e experiências que consideram hoje contribuir para suas relações familiares e sociais; em contrapartida, as duas outras entrevistadas narraram um grande ressentimento ao não terem seus sentimentos reconhecidos e respeitados pelos profissionais que exercem as suas atividades laborativas nas instituições, e ainda, salientaram os malefícios da transferência de instituições quando completaram doze anos de idade. Os procedimentos do Ministério Público corroboraram com os dados disponibilizados pelo Conselho Nacional de Justiça, destacando que há na cidade mais sujeitos do sexo masculino em situação de acolhimento do que do sexo feminino. Ainda, apontaram a falta de conhecimento e preparo, por parte do Conselho Tutelar, no momento de afastar uma criança/adolescente de seu núcleo familiar de origem. De forma complementar, realizou-se uma análise das constâncias e (in) constâncias jurídicas na história da infância no Brasil, utilizando como contribuição teórica o entendimento de Norbert Elias (1993, 1994, 2011). Para a efetivação do estudo, procurou-se estabelecer um diálogo com autores que discorrem sobre os temas analisados, tais como: Claudia Fonseca (2000, 2006, 2009, 2012), Irene Rizzini (2000, 2007, 2008), Vicente Faleiros (1995, 2008), Renato Caminha (1999), Maria Luiza Marcílio (2006), entre outros. Com as análises efetivadas, o texto concluiu que o conjunto de leis e diretrizes contribuem para o fortalecimento do trabalho realizado com este público, contudo ainda faltam políticas públicas articuladas, que previnam o rompimento de laços familiares e comunitários das crianças e adolescentes do nosso país. Estima-se que a contribuição da pesquisa está, pois, na articulação entre aspectos de uma história de longa duração – o processo de institucionalização de crianças e adolescentes no Brasil – e uma história do tempo presente – trazendo parte dos territórios íntimos dos sujeitos abrigados e/ou acolhidos, em contextos de alargamento da compreensão da educação para além dos muros da escola, vinculando-a a um processo de socialização. / This research is inscribed into the area of education, more specifically into non-formal educative processes. It deals with life stories of children and teenagers who were sheltered by institutions, as a means of protection, and who are the object of research in this study. The empirical corpus of this text is constituted by administrative proceedings belonging to the State Public Prosecution Office-4th Department of Justice Specialized in Children and Young People of Caxias do Sul- in the period of 1990 to 2011, together with narratives produced in semi-structured interviews, involving four former institution sheltered young people of the municipality of Caxias do Sul. This corpus was built following the approach of discursive textual analysis, a methodology of data treatment coined by Roque Moraes (2011). Methodological routes passed through cultural history commandments, including oral history and documental analysis. The research had the aim of understanding causes and meanings that led children and young people to keep distance from their families, many of them without the support of a provisional measure, as the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente (ECA) (Children’s Rights Statute) suggests. The analysis of the constructed material indicated that two of the sheltered boys, had a good experience when admitted in the institutions, as they apprehended experiences they consider to contribute, nowadays, in their family and social relationships; but two of the girls reported a great resentment because they did not have their feelings recognized and respected by people who worked in institutions. They also emphasized the bad effect of transfer from one institution to another one when they were twelve years old. The State Public Prosecution Office’s proceedings corroborated the data presented by National Justice Council, noting that there are more boys than girls who are sheltered in institutions. This organ also pointed at the Conselho Tutelar’s (Guardianship Council) lack of knowledge and preparation at the time of taking a child/teenager out of his/her family. As a complementation, it was made an analysis of permanence and nonpermanence of laws in the history of childhood in Brazil, using Norbert Elias (1993, 1994, 2011) theoretical contribution. To make this study effective, a dialogue involving authors who treat the analyzed topics, such as Claudia Fonseca (2000, 2006, 2009, 2012), Irene Rizzini (2000, 2007, 2008), Vicente Faleiros (1995, 2008), Renato Caminha (1999), Maria Luiza Marcílio (2006), among others, was proposed. After the finished analysis, the text concludes that the laws and norms contribute to strengthen work being done with this people, but there are still articulated public policies lacking, to avoid the break-up of family and community ties of Brazilian children and teenagers. It is estimated that the contribution of this research is the articulation between aspects of a long-term history- the process of institutionalization of children and teenagers in Brazil- and a present-time history- bringing a part of the intimate territories of sheltered and/or hosted, in contexts of widening of education comprehension, further from the school’s walls, linking school to a process of socialization.

This thesis set out to study the debate on circumcision of boys in Sweden. The study concerns itself with how categories and positions become rhetorical resources in the debate and how categories andpositions thus are made relevant. In order to get at what is made possible through the use of theserhetorical recourses this study has analyzed debate articles, official Swedish governmental documentsand the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Three interpretativerepertoires surfaced as distinct in this material and they are; Religious identity and belonging,medicine and the UNCRC. The analysis will therefore be structured and guided by these repertoires.As the debate is centred around the Human Rights Paradigm there is an ingrained ideological dilemmain the debate that can be explained as the tension between a Universal and a Cultural relativisticinterpretation of Human Rights. This tension will be discussed throughout the study. Severalconclusions can be drawn from the analysis: The various and contradictory positions allowed for bythe use of the UNCRC makes it an elusive tool in both theory and practice. The ideological dilemmatends to coerce the participants into opposing positions and even question the rhetorical tools utilizedin the debate. The child surfaces in various categories and at the end of this thesis the question remain;Is it a religious child or is it a child of religious parents?